Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to sheet handling devices. The invention is particularly suitable for use in a ledger feeder and stacker for accounting machines, such as illustrated in United Kingdom patent specification No. 1,402,374 published Aug. 6, 1975 assigned to the same assignee as the present application, and it is therefore described below with respect to that use.
U.K. patent specification No. 1,402,374 describes a ledger feeder and stacker for use with an accounting or other data processing machine which enables a quantity of ledgers to be deposited by the operator into a hopper compartment and then to be individually processed in an efficient manner. From the hopper compartment the individual ledgers are automatically fed to the processing station in the accounting machine for updating, and are then automatically advanced from the processing station to a stacker compartment in the ledger handling device for subsequent removal at periodic intervals by the operator. The disclosed device further provides a ledger "hold" position or station for the temporary storage or "parking" of partially processed ledgers. This feature enables a partially processed ledger to be automatically advanced from the processing station in the accounting machine to the hold station in the ledger feeder and stacker, and then to be automatically recalled from the hold station back to the processing station for the completion of its processing by the accounting machine, after which it may be advanced to the stacker compartment.